4th Gen Ram Tech2009+ and up Rams: This section is for TECHNICAL discussions only, that involve the 2009 and up Rams. For any non-tech discussions, please direct your attention to the "General discussion/NON-tech" sub sections.

Bad transfer case????

Hay guys!! Well I put my truck in 4x4 and when backing up in driveway it felt like rear wheels were locking, then driving on the road could feel slight vibration in steering wheel just wanted to know if anybody else has similar symptoms. But when in 2wd things are ok

Ya your right i totally forgot to shut it off!! would it have damaged anything? i drove around the block i did some turns but nothing sharp!! what would it damage? Transfer case or rear diff?

My guess is that it wouldn't have hurt anything over such a short time. Running with 4WD with all four wheels "stuck" to the pavement creates a lot of stress on the entire drive train, including gears and universals. However, I believe that increased wear would result only if you did this all of the time. Once around the block shouldn't hurt it at all.

Have you ever had a 4x4 truck before? Mine also does that in 4x4 mode, as did previous trucks from other companies. As reported, they are not to be driven any distance on dry ground in 4x4 mode. You might want to read the operator's manual on this - screwing up transfer cases can get expensive.

Yeah any amount of driving with your truck in 4x4 on hard pavement will cause binding and could cause gear damage. Especially when turning because then your wheels aren't spinning at the same speeds. Not a good thing to do my friend.

Yeah any amount of driving with your truck in 4x4 on hard pavement will cause binding and could cause gear damage. Especially when turning because then your wheels aren't spinning at the same speeds. Not a good thing to do my friend.

Driving straight on dry pavement is fine!! I know turning is not a good thing, i just got transfer case replace because it was no good.... All I wanted to know what it would damage first turning on pavement t.c or diffs

Well I realize that if you're driving in a prefectly straight line then you're probably not hurting anything. Normally when you're driving, you tend to turn. As far as which one would damage first, it would be which ever is the weakest link. I would say the transfer case, but that's just a guess.

With IFS, 4wd trucks are much more forgiving; CV shafts are a much better design for front axles. With my 01 Ram that had a solid front axle you could feel the effects of the u-joints when maneuvering in parking lots and other slow turining situations. Some people will argue about the durability of CV shafts but in my experience with HUMVEE's (which have 4 CV shafts) well built CV shafts can be durable. Your question is sort of 2 sided are you having issues with your front and rear axles or just the front? If its just the front you may have jammed up one of your CV shaft joints. Of course I think you are saying that when its in 2 wheel you do not have any vibrations which could mean that you may have a problem with the front drive shaft! These are just a couple of answers best thing to could do is crawl under your truck, grab a hold of your shafts and shake them if something moves you have found your issue. If you can jack it up and spin the tires and shafts this may reveal some issues as well, good luck!

With IFS, 4wd trucks are much more forgiving; CV shafts are a much better design for front axles. With my 01 Ram that had a solid front axle you could feel the effects of the u-joints when maneuvering in parking lots and other slow turining situations. Some people will argue about the durability of CV shafts but in my experience with HUMVEE's (which have 4 CV shafts) well built CV shafts can be durable. Your question is sort of 2 sided are you having issues with your front and rear axles or just the front? If its just the front you may have jammed up one of your CV shaft joints. Of course I think you are saying that when its in 2 wheel you do not have any vibrations which could mean that you may have a problem with the front drive shaft! These are just a couple of answers best thing to could do is crawl under your truck, grab a hold of your shafts and shake them if something moves you have found your issue. If you can jack it up and spin the tires and shafts this may reveal some issues as well, good luck!

They still hop on dry pavement if in 4 wheel drive just not as much. I had a Durango that was AWD just when really slick you put it in 4wd. Rarely did I have to do that, or should say rarely did I ,don't think I even needed to. Anyway around the block a couple times is fine and the rear is not what you should worry about its the CV joints which used to be ujoints that you would know when you should not be in 4wd for sure, they would almost lock up on a corner it felt like and the tires would hop and sqeal.